The Lost Mine of Phandelver

Loop 10 (cont): Time Loop Success!!

Loop Ten continued

… as we last left our party, the Lich’s orc army was quickly closing the distance as the Phandalin Force 5 stood outside the Mine of Phandelver making ranged attacks at the massive swarm of enemies. Clearly outnumbered and wanting to find a more defensible position, the group decided to head back inside the mine, by way of the side-cave’s supply elevator shaft. Roden covered them with his bow as the group retreated inside, although Torinn required a good deal of persuasion from Boirin before he was convinced to leave his post.

Entering the cave ahead of the chasing orcs, the party makes their way to the supply elevator and Boirin tosses Shava’s magical ship-in-a-bottle at the cave entrance. The bottle shatters against the face of the first orc to reach the cave, and as soon as the ship makes contact with the snowy ground the ship expands immediately to full size, completely sealing off the cave from the outside forces. Gnerx somehow convinces Tellrah to cast Reduce upon Gary the Goat so that the beloved beast might come down the shaft with the rest of the party. Tellrah uses Feather Fall to allow everyone a quick & safe passage down the shaft as they all slowly jump down into the mines.

Inside, Gary is returned to full size and Tellrah decides to experiment with a large piece of mystralite, using it as a focusing crystal. His intended spell morphs into something else entirely, and as a result Torinn is magically influenced to believe with certainty that Tellrah is a devil, which truth be told, wasn’t a big departure from what Torinn already believed about him. The mystralite, however, catches fire and Tellrah quickly uses Mage Hand to carry it back down the hall towards the bottom of the elevator shaft, throwing it inside and attempting to dive out of the way. But a fireball explodes out from where the mystralite landed, effectively destroying & sealing off the elevator but also catching Tellrah in its blast radius. Boirin stabilizes him, and Gnerx uses his healing fork to force feed some life back into him as well.

Tellrah goes to lie down to rest & recover while the group joins up with the dwarven guards at the main mine entrance, who are desperately working to reinforce the door. Suddenly the wizards who the party had earlier summoned from their enclave arrive at the mine, magically passing through the door and setting up additional magical barriers against the outside forces. Not long after, the club of one of the ogres crashes through the front door, revealing a line of sight at the battle outside. As epic a scene as you could imagine was unfolding outside, as the Neverwinter reinforcements, Waterdeep Griffin Calvary, and the summoned celestial Planetar all battled against the orcs & ogres in a giant maelstrom of blades & blood.

And there in the middle of it all leisurely walked the Lich, slowly approaching the mine’s entrance as the chaotic battle around him parted way. Boirin takes out his enchanted spyglass, and inquires of Geoffrey, the spirit who resides within, what it is that the Lich is after. Geoffrey explains the the Lich is looking for a specific object inside the Forge of Spells and that if the group can stop him from acquiring it or if the group can acquire it first, they’ll have achieved their purpose in this time. Thus the party rushes off to find Bruenor in hopes that he’ll help them enter the Forge.

All but Torinn rush off to find Bruenor, but he remained steadfast in his desire to slow the progress of the Lich in order to help buy his friends more time. Soon the party finds Bruenor in the smelting cavern. The dwarf is with Shava as well as a large group of civilians who Bruenor is desperately attempting to find safety for. The party convinces him to send the civilians into the dark mine shafts to hide, and suddenly the party all sense the 2nd lock to the Forge is broken, as their efforts to slow the outside the army and protect the innocents in the mine fulfills the “hate evil” portion of the door’s requirements. Tellrah informs Shava that she too is needed at the Forge, and she mistakenly gets the idea that Tellrah has romantic feelings towards her. Bruenor leads them all to the Forge (although Roden stays behind for a moment to snatch up a few valuable ingots). Rhogar sends Argent off to scout the mine and see what has befallen Torinn.

Bruenor and the party arrive at the Forge and Bruenor begins working the mechanism to open the door, but while all this has been happening with the main party, back at the entrance the Lich has arrived and is assaulting the wizard’s magical barrier with his own powerful magic. The wizards do their best, but the Lich eventually breaks down their defenses and enters the mine, quickly killing off the majority of the wizards and guards with his dark magic. However Torinn survives the Lich’s first blow before being overcome with a sense of dread & fear by the Lich’s imposing presence. In a last ditch effort at survival, Torinn blows the Planetar’s horn again, and just as the Lich was about to strike down the dragonborn, the celestial arrives and strikes a mighty blow against the Lich. A battle between the two powerful titans ensues, and Torinn retreats from the area to try to compose himself again. The Lich stuns the Planetar, incapacitating him, and heads once more in the direction of the Forge.

Back at the Forge, Bruenor has worked the intricate locking system to open the Forge but he is bewildered as an unexplained white blinding light spills out from inside. Just then, Argent returns to Rhogar and sends visions of the Lich’s attacks at the front of the mine. Without hesitation, Gnerx rides off on Gary to go lend aid to Torinn and bring him back to the Forge. They arrive quickly and Torinn readily agrees to hop on Gary and return to the party. Tellrah is the first to enter the white space, and after Boirin calls inside after him and hears Tellrah’s reply, he too enters inside after sending a prayer to Marthammor Duin for the missing party members’ safety. Moments later, Gnerx, Gary, and Torinn arrive, and they enter the white space as well, along with Rhogar & Roden.

Looking back, the party sees the Lich arrive at the door as well and as his hand reaches out towards them, time outside the portal slows to the crawl until it is stopped completely, and the party is left to figure out what to do next. They realize now that they are inside of the Ethereal Plane, but see no sign of what to do here. Eventually, Tellrah thinks to activate Lightbringer, a mace that the party “borrowed” from Shava’s workshop, and a bright light begins to radiate out from it. As the light from the mace grows, the fog of the plane draww back and the party finds themselves in a long, marble-white hallway. They travel through it, finding a domed sanctuary that branches off in several directions and there stands a lone figure, garbed in cleric’s robes. As he turns to the party, Boirin and Torinn both recognize a much younger Marius, who greets them before explaining what all this is about.

Marius explains that here inside the Forge, a powerful artifact had been created called the Whim. It is the most powerful artifact ever created, as it grants the user the ability to cast the spell Wish as many times as they desire. In the wrong hands it could potentially mean the end of the world, and of course the Lich wanted it. In order to ensure that it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands, Marius had set up the magical locks upon the portal to this plane which would show that the person/people who entered would desire peace and hate evil. Our party was sent back in time for this very purpose and the only thing left to do was the destroy the Whim by the only means it could be: by wishing it to never exist.

To everyone’s surprise, Tellrah agrees to be the one to take the Whim and he holds true to his word, even though the temptations of the Whim pulled strongly at him as he held it in his hand. And suddenly the Whim vanishes, and the Ethereal Plane falls away, leaving the adventures back in their own time, in the forgotten ruins of the mine. There in the corner lay the riches of the mine, which competes for the adventurers’ attention nearly as strongly as the desire for rest: their long, time-traveling journey finally at an end…

Loops 8 through 10

Loop Eight

Loop eight began with the entire party heading back to the signal fires of what would eventually become Cragmaw Castle, wanting to explore the location a bit more and see if there was anything they had overlooked. Once again, they dispatched the few orcs who had yet to go back through the black portal but they left one alive in hopes of getting some answers out of him as to the Lich’s plans but ultimately came up empty handed. Boirin made an attempt to use Dispel Magic on the portal, and while his attempt failed he was convinced by the attempt that it was theoretically possible. Their search of the castle came up empty.

Next the group traveled to the Wizard Enclave in hopes of finding out a bit more how they might be able to assist the party in their upcoming fight against the orcs. While there, Tellrah spoke in private with Gerald, an old wizard, about the nature of his glowstone, gifted by Corellon. Curious about their secrecy, Roden snuck in eavesdropped on their conversation as well. Meanwhile, Torinn let both Rhogar and Boirin in on the fact that he had previously discovered that at least some part of Tellrah is fiendish in nature.

Next the party return to the Mine of Phandelver to tracing down the location of Marnoth’s son, Mormeskew. They find him and return him to his father successfully. Roden decides to hop in a mine cart and see where it leads, ending up alone in a pitch-black subterranean lake and everyone commits suicide to hasten their next time loop iteration.

Loop Nine

The party explores the other two mine cart tracks, and almost decide to take a real stand against the orc army, when Gnerx reminds us that success in this loop might mean that there’s no changing what happens and the party decides to reset one last time in order to make sure they’ve accomplished/gathered everything they desire.

Loop Ten

The party is resolved now to take a real stand against the Lich & his army. They take all the necessary steps to ensure they have as much help as possible by lighting the signal fires and recruiting the wizards from the enclave, as well as summoning the celestial, a Planetar, from the magical horn. Those inside the mine do their best to bar the entrance to the mine against the attack, and Tellrah & Boirin position themselves within distance of the soon-to-be opened portal where the orc army spills out from. As the portal opens, they attempt to dispel the magic of the portal but fail to do so, and thus quickly retreat back to their friends at the entrance to the mine. Quickly the battle begins as everyone capable of engaging at range begin volleying attacks. The reinforcements are only just now arriving and are not yet able to help, other than the planetar, and the Phandalin Force 5 attempts to slow down the advancing army…

Loop 7

Loop Seven

Loop 7 begins with the party deciding to split once again in hopes of covering more ground. Torinn, Tellrah, and Gnerx headed back to the signal fires at what would eventually become Cragmaw Castle, while Rhogar, Boirin, and Roden all head inside to reattempt their diplomatic efforts in the mine. After striding through the fey wild, they get there a bit earlier than the last time they arrived, and the sounds of fighting echo from inside the keep. Upon entering, they discover that the orc army has nearly finished off the small group of soldiers who guard it. Soon they see the dark shadowly portal open and the orcs funnel through it. When all but a few orcs have gone through, the party engages the stragglers in combat hoping to leave one alive for questioning. However the final orc critically fumbled an attack and accidentally finished himself off, leaving only orc corpses behind. Torinn and Gnerx decide to follow after the orc army through the dark portal to see if they can discover any useful information. Tellrah runs up the stairs and lights the signal fire before returning downstairs and running into the portal after his friends.

Inside the portal, the party is confronted by a desolate, forboding waste of a landscape. The very essence of this plane of existance imposes itself upon the party members, and while Gnerx and Torinn were able to resist the negative effects, Tellrah found himself overcome with apathy and a sense of worthlessness and sits down in place refusing to budge due to there “being no point.” Torinn and Gnerx leave Tellrah to stew in his own misery before giving up and chasing after the orc army marching off into the distance. Shortly thereafter, Tellrah is beset upon by a Gibbering Mouther – a hideous beast of ooze and body parts of its victims. Tellrah opted to let the beast have its way, and is soon devoured, before finding himself back in the white space. Torinn and Gnerx faired only slightly better, successfully tracking the orcs until an unfortunately waredrobe malfunction sends Torinn’s shield clanking against his armor, and the orcs are alerted to their presence. Torinn stands his ground attempting to give Gnerx time to run ahead and perhaps escape the orcs, but a chasm opens up and swallows Gnerx up and now the three party members are all reunited once again in the white space.

While all the orc adventures were occuring, Rhogar, Boirin, and Roden were all back inside the mines of Phandelver. This time Roden was acting as the emissary, with Boirin as advisor and Rhogar as bodyguard. Before the talks began in earnest, the various groups all milled about as usual, mingling together at times and waiting for the negotiations. The party knew that the first time that they were able to attend the negotiations, the human representative from Neverwinter was killed by a small crossbow bolt, though they weren’t able to discern the culprit. As such, Rhogar was interested in using his ring to see if he could determine who might be carrying a crossbow at the talks. The dwarves seemed to not have any, but the ring pointed both towards the gnomes and the humans. Boirin, Rhogar, and especially Roden engaged the gnomes in conversation, attempting to see what they could learn about their group, their weapons, and their thoughts on the humans. Before long it seemed likely that the gnomes were responsible, and Boirin used Tellrah’s scrying bones (which he had borrowed earlier) to see if one of the gnomes was responsible for poisoning the brandy. The bones affirmed their suspicions, and Boirin once again set up an interrogation room with Phandred’s help, with Rhogar joining to ensure that they had enough muscle should things go south. Roden stayed at the treaty discussion, and was seated with the other groups to begin their talks.

Boirin & Rhogar’s first request was to speak with the gnomish bodyguard, Findarfin, who was accompanied by his apprentice, Beltiln. With the help of a Zone of Truth spell, it didn’t take long at all before Findarfin admitted to poisoning the brandy, stating that he had been tasked by the Order of Founders to ensure that the treaty was not signed. However the poison was his own idea and he acted by himself. Phandred’s guards took him away, and Boirin and Rhogar returned to the treaty discussions to find that Roden had already convinced everyone present to sign the treaty! His smooth talking had paved the way towards a peaceful resolution, and suddenly all members of the Phandalin Force 5 were aware somehow that the first seal on the door to the Forge of Spells had opened! Boirin used Sending to message the orc-adventure party members to let them know things were going great and for them to get back quickly, but upon hearing the return message knew things weren’t quite going to plan for the others.

Phandred had already seen the signal fire to the north, and the party members inside the mine began working to see what they could prepare to stop the orcs. Boirin retrieved the ship-in-a-bottle from Shava, and Roden retrieved the gnome’s magical horn with unknown powers, while Rhogar scale the mountain to once again try to get the frost giant to engage the orcs in combat. Boirin hid cautiously behind the door peering out as Roden went out of the mine and blew the horn. A celestial being descended from the clouds and demanded from Roden to answer his question: “do you deserve to live?” Roden honestly answered “no” hoping that honesty would be the best policy, but the being took out a flaming sword and struck down the halfling in one blow. Boirin now came out and the being demanded the same answer from him. Boirin explained his steadfast and good nature and said that he did believe he deserved to live, but the being knew the blood of Aldrik was on Boirin’s hands and slew Boirin were he stood as well. Rhogar successful roused the giant, who descended the mountain in his anger at being awoken by an arrow, and a glorious battle ensued between the giant and the celestial being, before the being sliced off the giant’s head with a swift attack. Rhogar descends the mountain but is overrun by the orc army and all the members of the party were now back inside the white space.

Loops 4 through 6

Loop Four

6pm
The Phandalin Force 5 once again finds themselves in the “white space” after failing to find a way to remove themselves from this time loop. Eager to learn more, but wanting to approach the situation from an entirely different angle, the group all heads down to The Phandalin Miner’s Exchange after deciding that they want to just ride this next loop out without putting themselves in harms way or interacting with any of the obvious conflicts presented. After consuming a delicious meal prepared by Barnaby, the group begins to grow listless and before long Tellrah & Torinn have agreed to a duel to pass the time. Everyone gathers around to watch as the pair trades blows, before Tellrah finally succumbs to his wounds and drops unconscious. Boirin heals Tellrah, and the group resumes their wait.

10pm
Noises are heard from the mountainside. Presumably the orcs have arrived.

11pm
Rhogar, Roden, and several of the party’s items being to look slightly transparent, although after careful examination they seem to be fully there in every other physical sense.

12pm
An eruption from the direction of the mine grabs the group’s attention as the entire rocky spire begins tearing apart more violently than from any volcano or natural phenomenon. The exploding terrain cascades quickly outwards from the mountain in all directions, and quickly the group is enveloped in the chaos.

Loop Five

Having discovered the exact timeline of events that occur each evening, the group sets out to see if they can make further progress while focusing on efforts to ensure a peaceful signing of the Phandelver Pact, hoping to break the first lock on the Forge of Spells. This time Tellrah is presented as the head of the party, representing the interests of his Elvish family/clan. The group arrives in enough time to actually join the initial discussions this time and join the other 3 groups of races in the main hall. Tellrah adds his staff to the collection of gifts already on the table that were brought by the other groups and everyone begins mingling before the talks officially begin. Shortly thereafter, Torinn is tasked by Tellrah to accompany the dwarvish steward to the storage room and bring back some ale. Torinn takes this opportunity to detect that the Blinkdog Brandy is already poisoned and reports this information to Phandred.

Back in the meeting room, Torinn magically purifies the brandy before using his Detect Poison spell to see if there is any trace on any of the guests, but none is found. Boirin requests to assist with the investigation into who poisoned the brandy, explaining that his magical spells would come in handy, but after interrogating every known person to have access to the brandy after it arrived and confirming with the clerics who work at the mine that the brandy was NOT poisoned prior to arriving, Boirin remains without an answer to who could have done it.

Meanwhile the negotiations have begun in earnest, and Tellrah attempts to smooth over a rocky start as the human emissary from Neverwinter seems especially unwilling to bargain for anything less than complete control of the mine. As Tellrah tries desperately to convince him to remain there and continue with the talks, his Wild Magic flairs up and suddenly he finds himself sucked through a Planar Shift to the Elemental Plane of Water, and quite under water. After swimming to the surface and finding no sign of land, Tellrah picks a direction at random to begin swimming, but shortly after a water elemental rises from the waves and smashes the elf with two mighty fists of liquid, killing him instantly. Tellrah is once again in the white space.

Back at the mine, the negotiations have completely fallen apart after Tellrah’s unexpected departure. Boirin attempts to use Detect Magic to see if there are any traces of unexpected magic anywhere throughout the mine or upon any of the guests at the summit. Again, nothing of use is found. The group decides to embrace the inevitable time reset that will be coming shortly, as most of the remaining party remains at the mine and attempt once more to defend it from the orc army. Boirin travels a safe distance from the mine, and then as midnight approaches he casts Clairvoyance in order to gain visual access to what specifically happens at the forge of spells in the minutes leading up to the explosion. On cue, the lich appears and upon reaching the locked door, places his hands upon it and instantly the explosion is triggered once more, before Boirin rejoins the others in the white space.

Loop Six

As their sixth loop begins, the Phandalin Force 5 decides to visit some locations they’ve heard about but haven’t been able to check out themselves just yet. Torinn and Tellrah lead the reconnaissance mission while the rest enter the mines once more to get answers to some questions they’ve been wondering about.

By way of the fey wild, first Tellrah and Torinn travel to the north to find the signal fire location. Arriving at a deserted castle, they spot a tower that clearly serves the purpose. Upon closer inspection they see that the castle is the same as Cragmaw Castle that they visited in their own time. It appears deserted, but rather than inspect inside they scale the outside walls using Spider Climb and find that the timber inside the signal fire’s basin has been doused with water. With a bit of magic and Dragon Breath, the pair get the fires lit and head back into the fey wild. They stop briefly atop Icespire Peak to see the sleeping giant still slumbering, and then Tellrah continues on alone to the south in search of the wizard enclave.

Meanwhile the others in the party have been asking their questions inside of the mine, discovering more about that nature of the different groups’ claims to the magical riches of the mines. After some time has passed, the lit signal fires are discovered and the questions quickly pivot to the topic of defense. They find out that the signal fires will bring the aid of the Griffin Calvary from Waterdeep but not lots more. Marnoth is primarily concerned with the location of his son, Shava explains that the spectator won’t be able to leave the enchanters workshop in order to assist them either but offers the magical ship in a bottle if it will help.

Back in the forests to the south, Tellrah eventually discovers the location of the wizard enclave and is faced with a magical door that apparently requires a password of some nature before he’ll be able to enter. The door has a face on it which begins engaging Tellrah in conversation. Eventually Tellrah lucks into the solution as he inadvertently gets the talking door to utter the password and it swings open. Inside Tellrah discovers several wizards deep in their own studies and pursuits and urges them all to come assist the efforts at the mine to resist the orc army.

Loop 3

The Sleeping Giant

The Phandalin Force 5 begins their third time loop in the Forge of Spells with renewed confidence and clever plans. First the dragonborn duo, Rhogar & Torinn, decide to explore Icespire Peak. A couple missteps and a few bloodhawks later, they arrive and to their surprise they find a sleeping frost giant. Rhogar decides to rouse the giant, intending to coax it down the mountain in hopes of it battling against the orc army. The plan starts off without a hitch as they pitch the giant’s belongings down the mountainside towards the mine entrance as the giant is awoken. Rhogar & Torinn hide as the giant begins quickly descending and realize that they’ve just sent a groggy & cranky giant towards their friends below. Rhogar sends a message with Argent in hopes of warning the others.

Meanwhile the others enter the mine and discover Palien and Acorn inside. Initially they convince Palien to assist them in defending against the orcs, but as Palien decides to help them, several different physical objects & properties related to the party’s time in Thundertree begin fading out of existence, clearing warning them that Palien’s motions in history must not be changed too severely. Quickly they tell Palien that it is more important that he sees to his business in Thundertree, and he is puzzled but nevertheless ends up agreeing, and the fading effect ends.

Striding, Stumbling, Squashing

Tellrah, Boirin, Roden, and Gnerx are invited by Acorn to follow her into the fey wild with a promise of teaching them a new trick that they would find useful. As the group ventures towards the tree portal, Argent arrives and delivers the message, which is misinterpreted as Rhogar & Torinn sending them a friendly frost giant. Before discovering how wrong they are, they enter the fey wild and Acorn teaches them how to “Stride”: a special way to travel in the fey wild that allows one to take a single step from one location to another within distance, covering vast distances quickly. The group gives it a few successful attempts before deciding to Stride back to the mine entrance in their own world. Tellrah succeeds, but Boirin missteps terribly and somehow manages to fling himself at breakneck speeds into the sky. Roden is alarmed and instructs Gnerx to go back through the tree portal from which they entered before Striding to the mine entrance to meet Tellrah.

As the giant reaches the mine entrance, he discovers Roden & Tellrah there and approaches them quickly and menacingly. Torinn & Rhogar arrive shortly and remain out of site. Gnerx comes along and is cut off mid-sentence by a giant foot crushing him instantly. Tellrah summons an illusion to hide them temporarily from the giant as he and Roden escape inside the mine doors, as the giant begins attacking the mine quickly thereafter. Torinn and Rhogar enter the nearby storage cave and enter the mine down the supply shaft, with Rhogar first lowering Torinn down inside of the supply box before climbing down the rope shortly after.

Bacon of Hope

Rhogar has lowered himself down the shaft but as his exit is blocked by the supply box, he decides to destroy it by pointing his woodland staff downwards and turning it into a tree. Immediately the tree branches shoot out of the shaft’s exit and violently impale Torinn, killing him. Simultaneously Rhogar is shot upwards and meets his end by slamming into the cave ceiling. Rhogar and Torinn find themselves back in the white space alongside Gnerx.

Meanwhile Boirin finally exits the fey wild as he lands far off in an unknown land on a sandy beach. Alone and without his bearings, he walks off towards the only nearby sign of civilization: a small city on a peninsula. Amazingly he sees a dragon hovering over the city before taking flight and ascending back into the sky, a site that clearly resembles a description provided by Tellrah from his vision quests. As Boirin nears the city he sees that it is populated by a hostile race of snake creatures and quickly leaves before making his presence known. Boirin uses detect magic to find the fey portal once again and reenters the fey wild, and strides a handful of times before returning back to the mine entrance and leaving the fey wild.

At the same time, Roden and Rhogar decide that in the midst of the giant attack and ensuing chaos that they should head towards the Forge of Spells. Roden eventual recalls his lock picking proficiency, and enters without issue. However no help makes itself known to them and so Roden goes towards the enchantment workshop while Tellrah heads off to the area of the mine where the fungus has started growing. Roden heads to the workshop and with plans to steal the mini ship that Shava showed to them recently (which becomes full sized when touched by water), and Tellrah comes back past the workshop with his fungus.

At this time, Boirin has left the fey wild and finds the giant and orcs fighting and the mine entrance has caved in. So he heads toward the storage cave, with the orcs chasing him close behind. Surprised to find the shaft blocked by a massive tree, Boirin turns to face the orcs and in an act of desperation uses the Ring of the Grammarian to turn his Beacon of Hope spell into “Bacon of Hope”. Boirin begins hallucinating bacon everywhere and dies to the orc army happily surrounded by a world made of bacon, entering the white space with those who died before him. The dragonborn mention that they expect Tellrah to die next, and Boirin wagers each of them 5 gold a piece that instead it will be Roden.

Back at the mine, Roden and Tellrah meet up and Roden turns down the fungus offer and informs Tellrah of his plan to steal the ship. Tellrah wants no part of it and heads toward the forge of spells. Roden succeeds in looting the ship and he takes it to the underground lake, uncorks the bottle, and immediately dies as the misty air near the lake makes contact with the ship which expands instantly into a full size ship in the space where Roden’s body used to be. Inside the forge entrance, Tellrah makes plans to fight off the orcs but finds his magic is being dispelled by the room which is warded against his spells and even wild magic. Without his spells to aid him, he shortly falls to the attacking orcs and the party is finally all reunited once again in the white space.

Loop 2

Goats & Greetings

Rána returns from his vision quest to find himself in strange and smelly situation. The Phandalin Force 5 catches each other up on their adventures (Rana’s real name is Tellrah!) and prepares to make another attempt to enter the Phandelver Mine. However, their plans are interrupted when a crossbow bolt flies through the air and strikes Gnerx. It was loosed by Palien who tends to shoot first and ask questions later when it comes to goblins. The party finds out that he has been escorted the human emissary from Neverwinter to the mines. Along with Palien is the fairy, Acorn, who apparently accompanies Palien from time to time to aid him. When Tellrah tells to Acorn about his visit to “the black space” she suddenly beckons Palien to leave and appears obviously troubled.

Mein Mine

Torinn poses as a dragonborn ambassador under the guise of political interest in the Phandelver Pact and leads the party safely into the mine. This time Phandred Fatesmelter is much more welcoming and willing to listen to the party’s warnings of an orc attack. They learn that there are signal fires to the north and a wizard’s enclave to the south, both of which can possibly lead to help.

Grand Tour

The party follows Bruenor Fatesmelter on a grand tour of his prosperous mine, meeting new characters and learning new things along the way. First up they meet Marnoth, a wizard working in the mine. The party learns from him about his son, who they believe will eventually turn into the wraith, Mormesk. Next they meet the enchantress, Shava Galanodel and spend some time having their equipment enchanted after learning of her business. The finale of the tour leads them to the door of the Forge of Spells, which is magically locked with 3 chains. A symbol adorns each lock: Desire Peace, Hate Evil, and the 3rd appears as a geometric shape. It becomes clear to the party that these locks will be broken once they have proven themselves in the trials they face here at the Phandelver Mines.

Blink Dog Brandy

While the Phandalin Force 5 continues to explore the Phandelver Mine, Tellrah convinces Clark the Clerk to give him a free sample of some very expensive dwarven liquor. When Tellrah’s reaction to the liquor seems exceptionally severe, Boirin attempts to cure him of alcohol poisoning is, and in the process discovers that Tellrah is actually poisoned, in the “here comes death” sense of the word. Boirin scrambles from person to person inside the mine, finding out that the brandy was brought by the Mintarn dwarves, but is unable to find out who poisoned it. Boirin and Tellrah use scrying bones to find out that the cure he needs is an herb that can be found in the private stash of Barnaby Thornton down at the Phandalin Trading Post. They travel there, save Tellrah, and set out to return.

Son of a Lich

The Phandelver Pact peace talks have devolved into chaos when evidence is uncovered of an assassin in their midst. Roden creates a diversion with Rhogar’s help while Boirin and Tellrah hasten back from Phandalin. Torinn stands guard at the entrance, first to face their impending doom. He fights valiantly before falling to the wave of orcs. Tellrah jumps into the midst of the orcs outside as a wild magic flair-up sends an explosive crater’s worth of orcs into the air. Boirin attacks from range while riding Gary the Goat and healing Torinn and Tellrah as much as possible. Rhogar uses his tree-staff to send a 60-foot tall tree horizontally through the hallway where dozens of orcs are charging, and Roden assists while attacking with all of his roguish wits. But before long the leader of the orc army, an evil lich, arrives and decimates the Phandalin Force 5 one by one before they are all sent back to the white space, presumably to try the day again.

While Rhogar studies the strange crystal down the hall, Rána stirs from his meditations in the Temple of Dumathoin. He briefly interacts with Mormesk, inspects the statue of Dumathoin, and is about to explore the mine when the statue, covered in profane red sigils, suddenly animates and gives chase. Before long, the statue lays hold of him and Rána finds himself enveloped in a limitless and supernatural black space filled with massive red glowing sigils.

Rána passes the night exploring the black space, embarking on some sort of strange vision quest. At times, he appears in locations across Faerûn as different colored dragons, exploring his environment and testing his abilities, before being pulled back into the black space. Alternatively, he relives memories which, because of his Wethrinaer curse, had been taken away from him.

During the course of his revelations, he discovers that his true name is Tell’ra Hodorea (meaning Lion Wise-One) and that his origins may be darker than he had once supposed.

In his final vision, he is only 5 or 6 years old and wandering a dark and desolate landscape. A crumbling castle stands above him; he clambers up the thorny bank of a long-dry moat and enters the abandoned structure. Inside, he finds a large, domed atrium with channels carved into the floor and a shallow basin at its center. When he approaches, the channels feed the basin, filling it with black, viscous liquid, which present-day Rána recognizes as ichor — demon’s blood.

He reaches out to touch it, and suddenly the ichor ripples and shudders unnaturally — twisting and contorting as it rises from the basin, coalescing into his mirror image. In the ichor’s reflection, he sees, to his horror, that his own form is altogether featureless: no eyes, no mouth, no ears — just an androgynous and anthropomorphic likeness of a child. The ichor soon develops more detail than he and becomes the spitting image of a 6-year old high-elf Tell’ra in black, rippling liquid. Fully formed, the ichor image steps forward and melds with Rána’s form.

Loop 1

The party awakens from their long rest in the Mines of Phandelver, all except Rana, who remains in some state of sleep or unconsciousness. Mormesk has been busy, filling the exits to the room to the brim with the corpses of creatures he has slain. His bloodlust is not satisfied however and he demands that the party plays along as he re-incarnates the corpses and sends them to attack us. The group refuses to play along and retreat into the Forge of Spells, sealing off the door. After some time, they determine how to activate the Forge and find themselves in an empty white dimension before shortly being transported to another location: a cold, snowy area outside the mines. A collection of armored dwarves come out and soon the group find out that they have been transported not just through space but also through time, nearly 500 years in the past to the day in which emissaries from the dwarves, gnomes, and humans have collected to sign a pact that will lay out how the powers of the mine will be shared between the races.

Upon realizing this, the group attempts to explain how they have been magically transported through time and also attempt to warn them of the impending orc army attack they know will arrive this very evening. None of the dwarves seem to believe the party however, including the leader of the guard, Phandred. And so the party sets off to see what else they can learn about the surrounding area. They find a giant goat in a nearby storage cave and name him “”/characters/gary-the-goat" class=“wiki-content-link”>Gary." Gary pulls the party on a sleigh down the mountain to where Phandalin used to stand, but there is only a single trading post. Inside they meet Barnaby who offers them a meal and shows off his extensive collection of herbs and spices. However, not much is to be learned there.

Thus the party travels back up the mountain and this time they make note of some footprints in the snow that lead away from the mine entrances. Upon following them, they are led mysteriously to a tree where the footprints end without trace. The party shortly finds that when touching the tree they are transported into the fey wild. However they all eventually lose their wits as are enchanted by their surroundings, happy and mindless towards any objective other than existing in the sweet perfection of the land. A full year passes before they once again gather their wits, and leave the dimension to return to their own.

Apparently only an hour or two has passed in their own world, as they find Gnerx still waiting there for them as he had not joined them in touching the tree. However Gnerx is quite unwell, having been speared by a long orcish pike. The party is met by an immense army of orcs and a lich lords over them, approaching the group, extending out an undead hand, and wiping the party off the face of the earth.

The party immediately finds themselves back in the white empty space, including Gnerx, and all are unscathed. And once again they are transported back to the snowy mountain outside the mines, apparently in the same situation they found themselves in the last time they exited the white space. Rana is still unconscious, and the group decide this time rather than carrying him around everything to leave him in the storage cave with Gary, before heading back out to see if they can do any better at solving the reason they have all been sent here…

Eleint 1491 DR

1

Venomfang

Thundertree is cleared. Gnerx is left trapped in a giant spider’s web overnight, and Marius is nowhere to be found. The night passes in fitful dreams, and Boirin is visited by Linene Graywind, proprietor of Lionshield Coster, who turns out to be a druid who can take the form of a wolf. Boirin ascertains how much time has passed during their conversation. The two schedule a rendezvous for the 10th of Eleint.

The party’s search for Gnerx leads them to a tower atop a hill in the midst of the ruins. Dragon Cultists demand the Glowstone in exchange for Gnerx; Rána fools them by giving them his old arcane focus instead, and the party defeats the cultists.

Venomfang the Dragon returns, and after a grueling battle is defeated by the party. Boirin obtains the Trusty Feller, a magic dwarven axe. Rhogar locates one of Beltiln’s puzzle boxes amdist the contents of the dragon’s stomach.

Neverwinter Gallows

Heeding Linene’s grim warning that the Black Spider’s agents have been tormenting Phandalin, the party hastens south. On the way, they are drawn into Neverwinter by a commotion, which turns out to be a public execution. Iarno Albrek is hanged, and Marius the Madman, similarly condemned, follows him onto the gallows. The party mounts a daring rescue, barely escaping the city. Marius had been convicted of dealing magic items without a license.

The party continues south toward Phandalin, meeting a variety of strange folk along the way, including a paladin named Torinn Delmirev. A roguish tiefling named Damakos meets and joins the party.

The Stonehill Inn Fire

The party hastens through the night to find Phandalin’s Stonehill Inn ablaze with Trilena, the innkeeper’s wife, still trapped inside. While Rána, Boirin, and Damakos rush into the burning building, Andrena organizes the panicked populace to form a bucket brigade. Gnerx fights the fire in the inn’s kitchen while the others continue their search for Trilena upstairs.

Damakos is caught in a backdraft and falls unconscious. Boirin falls through the floor before he can heal their new friend. In an attempt to reach Damakos, he throws the Trusty Feller at the intervening ceiling, causing a collapse in which Damakos dies.

Rhogar locates Trilena, safely lowering her to safety through the second-story window with Rána’s help (casting feather-fall). Thanks to the bucket brigade, the Stonehill Inn Fire is extinguished and the structure is saved from complete ruin. Inspired by her leadership, the townsfolk elect Andrena as their new Townmaster.

A half-orc named Krusk makes trouble amongst the townsfolk, and the party apprehends him. Rána recognizes him as a warlord, but before he can question him the orc is slain with an arrow. Torinn, the dragonborn paladin, appears and reveals that he had been sworn to hunt the half-orc. He joins their party.

2

Damage Report

The party learns the cost of Phandalin’s loyalty. Any buildings with known associations to the Phandalin Phorce Phive had been razed by agents of the Black Spider, including: Barthen’s Povisions, Townmaster’s Hall, Stonehill Inn, Lionshield Coster, Blacksmith, Stables, Tresendar Manor, and the Phandalin Miner’s Exchange.

Many of the villagers were killed for refusing to cooperate, their bodies hanged from the trees in Edermath Orchard to set an example. Among the dead are found Minkus & Dinkus, Smitty the Smith, Petunia Pleasantbaker, Freda the Weaver, and Halia Thornton, as well several Redbrand Ruffians, three bugbears, a goblin, and a nothic. The party assembles a funeral pyre to honor their friends who died for them.

Rhogar returns the Glutton’s Fork to Gnerx (previously stolen by Rána) and reluctantly dubs him Gnerx the Courageous with said fork. Gnerx approaches Torinn, and the dragonborn agrees to train him to become a paladin. Gnerx, thrilled with his new apprenticeship, sets about finding tasks to prove himself.

Andrena disappears, leaving behind the Nitpicker and a note. The weight of responsibility that accompanied becoming the Townmaster was too much for her, and she regrettably had to leave.

The group donates 60 gp to Toblen Stonehill in support of his family and toward the repair of his inn. Toblen can fully repair the inn with 2,500 gp. The party appoints Toblen as the new Townmaster.

The Mercenaries of Mintarn

Bazuk Longforge, Boirin’s former captain, appears on the street to parley with the party. Mintarn Mercenary thugs emerge from all corners of town, surrounding the party and murmuring exclamations like “Cold-blood Boirin!” “Ashcloak the Assassin!” and “Deathy the Dwarf!” as they are surprised to see Boirin again.

Boirin’s old company, it appears, is currently employed by the Black Spider. Neither side is willing to back down, so a battle breaks out. Bazuk is killed, along with five of his thugs. Dumberlug, the last surviving mercenary, flees into the charred husk of the Stonehill Inn.

The party apprehends Dumberlug and turns him over to the townsfolk. They learn that the Black Spider has kidnapped Gundren and is forcing the dwarf to lead him to lead him to Wave Echo Cave.

Boirin sees visions of a diamond, a crystalline pillar, and a meeting of three gods.

3

Journey to Wave Echo Cave

12:00 am — Driven by urgency, the party forgoes rest in favor of pursuing the Black Spider to Wave Echo Cave. Rhogar leads the party east along the Sword Mountain foothills toward Wave Echo Cave, following Gundren’s map. Ripper the Wolf attacks the party again, and is defeated. Rána claims its skull as a trophy.

1:00 am — While they ride, Boirin opens up about his dark past with the Mintarn Mercenaries, including the botched assassination of Prince Aldrik, who gave his life to save Boirin’s. Boirin became a cleric in order to atone for Aldrik’s death, and aspires to learn how to resurrect his savior. Gnerx shares his own dark secret: he gambles.

2:00 am — The party finds a plundered burial mound and (figuratively) picks the bones clean, finding a chest with about 200 gp in it.

3:00 am — Rhogar is bitten by a stirge on his back. The party stops to eat.

4:00 am — The party finds a fallen and overgrown statue of Lathander (one of the gods from Boirin’s recent vision).

5:00 am — Rána casts enlarge on Rhogar, and together the group lifts the statue back in place while Boirin repairs it with his masonry tools.

6:00 am — When it is complete, the sun rises behind the hill, framing the god of the dawn in a golden nimbus. Rána shoots a fireball into the air to celebrate (losing a bet to Gnerx and giving him 1 gp).

7:00 am — The party reaches the entrance to Wave Echo Cave!

Wave Echo Cave

Morning

The party reaches Wave Echo Cave. Tharden, one of Boirin’s cousins, is found dead inside the entrance. While the rest of the party works to excavate an opening large enough for the party to enter the mine, Rána and Roden snack on some glowing mushrooms.

While exploring on his own, Rhogar finds a scrap of ancient parchment and, incredibly, recognizes his own handwriting before it crumbles to dust.

Led by pscyhotropic fungus into a dark lair, the Phandalin Force 5 is trapped on a giant game-board at the mercy of a sadistic ambulatory fungus — a Myconid Sovereign known as Milkcap, introducing himself as a “real fun guy.” The party participates in games and challenges, including spinning the Wheel of Misfortune, which demands a sacrifice from each player. Torinn is disarmed. Rána contracts sewer plague, Roden sight-rot. Boirin is unlucky. Rhogar sacrifices his dignity; he swaps bodies with Gnerx for the remainder of the game.

Midday

Finally, the party, miserable and tortured, reaches Milkcap’s stage and violently take their revenge — reducing him to a cloud of spores that dissipate and descend back into the Underdark (but not before Rána turns into a potted plant). The party loots the prize cache, including coins, gems, and a Staff of the Woodlands, which Rhogar keeps. With Milkcap dead, they escape the glum gameshow and resume their pursuit of the Black Spider.

The party breaks into a room which turns out to be the lair of a murderous wraith named Mormesk. He forbids them to loot his treasure, but Boirin distracts the undead specter with a longwinded speech while Roden nimbly empties the chest behind the wraith’s back. As they prepare to leave, the wraith mentions that they look familiar to him. Roden, to the party’s disbelief, confirms the wraith’s suspicions, going all-in with a bluff. The halfling begins reminiscing about their shared childhood — Mormesk’s dog named Bunny, a dragonborn who used to bully them, and Mormesk’s impressive magic skills. Incredibly, the wraith believes him, and is pleased to be reunited with his best friend. He agrees to join them on their current quest, so long as murder is involved.

With Mormesk’s help, the party moves quickly and silently through the monster-infested tunnels, past ghouls and jellies, bugbears and drow, into the northwest corner of the mine. The Black Spider, along with giant spiders and bugbears, is found in the Temple of Dumathoin. A great battle ensues, and the party fights valiantly. Mormesk waits in the east passage, murdering all approaching reinforcements. Nezznar, the drow known as the Black Spider, is at last slain by the party — but not before Rána turns into a sheep.

The battle-weary party makes camp in the Temple of Dumathoin. Nundro, Boirin’s third cousin is found alive and is rescued, but Gundren is nowhere to be found.

Night

Fearing what Mormesk might do while the rest are sleeping, Rhogar remains awake. Using the anvil-headed key that was retrieved from Nezznar’s corpse, the ranger opens the door to the natural cave adjacent to the temple and ponders the strange crystal formation within.

Eleasis 1491 DR

7

The Uneven Dog

Boirin, Rhogar, Rána, and Roden are hired by Gundren Rockseeker at a Neverwinter tavern (called The Uneven Dog) to escort a wagon of supplies to the burgeoning town of Phandalin.

Roden Hobblebuckle is hoping to clear the bounty on his head. Boirin Ashcloak is doing a favor for his cousin Gundren. Erresea Rána, newly returned to civilization, is in it for the money. Daardendrian Rhogar is busy defending that civilization from the perils of the wilderness on behalf of the Order of the Founders while he investigates a missing colleague named Iarno Albrek.

8

Gundren’s Convoy

Gundren and his sellsword, Sildar Hallwinter, depart for Phandalin.

9

Wagon Escort

The hired party departs for Phandalin escorting Gundren’s wagon of supplies.

10

Waylaid

Gundren and Sildar are attacked and captured by goblins en route to Phandalin.

11

Ambush on the Triboar Trail

The party thwarts a goblin ambush on the Triboar Trail. Rana’s skin turns blue indefinitely due to a wild magic surge.

Cragmaw Hideout

Gnerx “the Helpful,” a goblin, is captured and forced to lead the party to the Cragmaw Hideout, which is cleared. Klarg the Bugbear is beheaded, Ripper the wolf is set aflame and driven off, and Sildar Hallwinter is rescued.

12

Phandalin

The party arrives in Phandalin after reclaiming Lionshield Coster merchandise from the Cragmaw Hideout. Payment is collected for the delivery of Gundren’s wagon, loot is sold, and the adventurers pass the night in the Stonehill Inn. Gnerx begins ingratiating himself to the group.

13

Tresendar Manor

Investigation of the Redbrand mercenary threat leads the party to Tresendar Manor which is under the command of one “Glasstaff.” The party clears the Redbrand dungeon. Rhogar pledges Rána one favor after nearly getting him killed, the party learns that Andrena is a mermaid, a group of undead skeletons are defeated, and Mirna Dendrar and her children are rescued.

A wizard’s workshop is found. Boirin collects “Urmon’s Journal.” A strange rat turns out to be the wizard’s familiar and warns Glasstaff, who escapes via a hidden door. A letter from the Black Spider reveals that Glasstaff is, in fact, Iarno Albrek — the wizard whom Rhogar and Sildar were searching for.

A nothic monster nearly kills the entire party but is bested by Boirin with the help of a hand mirror and some string.

Iarno nearly escapes, but Gnerx, who had been left behind, knocks him unconscious. Iarno is arrested and placed in Sildar’s custody. Iarno delivers Beltiln’s Bequest to Rhogar.

14

Cragmaw Castle

Gnerx leads the adventurers to the castle where he is being held and promptly betrays them. Goblins drag the party down to the dungeons to be tortured alongside Gundren and a gnome called Gerbo the Tinker, who is searching for his son. Gerbo turns out to be Gnerx’s long-lost father.

With Gnerx’s help (it was a feigned double-cross), the party escapes from the dungeon and clears the castle. King Grol, Vyerith the doppelganger, a grick, and a goblin priest of Maglubiyet are defeated. Gundren’s Map to Wave Echo Cave is found!

The party convinces Gnerx to stay rather than leave with Gerbo. The party reencounters Ripper the Charred Wolf. After sustaining injury, Rána reduces the wolf. Boirin then easily lifts and grand-slams it into the forest with his warhammer.

15

Riding North

The party purchases horses at the Phandalin Stables and rides north along the Sword Coast and past Neverwinter, turning east toward the ruins of Thundertree.

16

Thundertree

The party meets Marius the Madman, a curiosity merchant, just outside the ruins of Thundertree, which are promptly explored. Mirna’s emerald necklace is retrieved after fighting some ash zombies and twig blights.

Dragon Cultists

The party rescues Acorn the Sprite and a pseudodragon from Dragon Cultists who are searching for a powerful magic item. Rhogar forms a magical bond with the pseudodragon. Thundertree’s town square is the site of Boirin’s visions, which leads the party to discover a planar portal. Just as (most of) the party passes through the portal, a young green dragon arrives.

Rhogar stays behind to face the dragon. Venomfang the Dragon circles Rhogar while posing riddles. Rhogar answers two of three correctly; on the third, he makes a dash for the portal, but is grievously wounded. He answers another riddle correctly. Finally, he asks the dragon one of Beltiln’s Imponderable Questions: “Where would we be without rhetorical questions?” and the dragon flies away in a fit of rage. Rhogar crawls through the portal.

17 – 30

The Feywild

The party enjoys the wonders of the Feywild’s beautiful and whimsical magic. Rána comes face to face with Corellon, the god of the elves. Rána’s Wethrinaer brand, meaning “deceitful one,” is divinely revised to read “deceptive one,” emphasizing his freedom of will to influence his destiny. Rána’s blue skin is returned to its normal hue, and he also receives a divine gift — the Glowstone, a powerful arcane focus.

Acorn sends the party back to Thundertree. Unbeknownst to the party, nearly 14 days elapsed in Toril while they were in the Feywild.